Word Count Discussion

10% seems very branchy and might become unwieldy to write if it’s plot and scene branching. Depending on how large the total game is, it might also feel like a bite size play experience, which is great if that’s what you’re going for but may be less exciting for players looking for a much longer read.

CoG design guidelines recommend an average of between 20% and 40% of full text to be visible on a playthrough. That said, from experience that’s not enforced at least at the lower end. I code pretty efficiently but Blood Money, Royal Affairs and Creme are still under 20%. Noblesse Oblige is only about 25% which likely led to it being known for being short as the total wordcount is less (it was very interesting juggling short total wordcount with varying playthroughs).

As a player, games with high word counts can feel a bit intimidating for me if my time/brain energy is low because I go into it knowing that it’s going to be a chunky experience (by “high” I mean more than about 300K words total. Yes I would be intimidated by my own games). So I tend to set aside time for them rather than playing more spontaneously. I liked playing Professor of Magical Studies when I was on holiday so that I could sink into it and enjoy the longer experience; conversely, I liked playing Sky Pirates of Actorius in the bath (kids, do not play games on your phone in the bath).

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